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List of characters in the BioShock series
The BioShock series of video games are story-driven first person shooters that have the player exploring dystopian settings created by Ken Levine and his team at Irrational Games. The first two games, BioShock and its direct sequel, BioShock 2, take place in the underwater city of Rapture in the 1950s and 1960s, which was influenced heavily by Ayn Rand's Objectivism. The third game, BioShock Infinite, is set aboard the floating air-city of Columbia in 1912, designed around the concept of American Exceptionalism. Though Infinite is not a direct sequel to the previous games, the game is thematically linked, and both a short scene within the game and upcoming downloadable content tie in Infinite's story with that of Rapture. All three games feature a number of characters, including the player's character and other non-playable characters (NPC), that drive the games' respective stories, and reflect some of the themes that Levine's team incorporated into the games. The following is a list of character from the BioShock games, arranged in terms of which games they were introduced in. BioShock Jack The protagonist of BioShock, whom the player controls throughout the game. Jack was a passenger on board an airplane that crashed near a lighthouse in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean that provided entry to Rapture. During his journey through Rapture, he encounters various gene altering substances, known as plasmids and Gene tonics, that he uses to defend himself. As Jack journeys through Rapture, he has strange visions of his family. Late in the game (before he kills Andrew Ryan) he finds out that he is Ryan's illegitimate son, and was genetically conditioned to do whatever someone said if they used the phrase "would you kindly", which Atlas had used since the moment Jack and he met. Jack then kills Ryan and shuts down Rapture's self-destruct switch, only to find out that Atlas is in fact Frank Fontaine: a notorious gangster and former leader of Rapture's black market. Escaping Rapture's automated defense systems, he ends up in the care of Dr. Tenenbaum, who frees him of his "trigger phrase ailment". Andrew Ryan Andrew Ryan was a business magnate in the 1940s and 1950s, and seeking to avoid scrutiny from governments and other oversight, ordered the secret construction of an underwater city, Rapture. When Ryan's vision for a utopia in Rapture collapsed into dystopia, he hides himself away and uses armies of mutated humans, "Splicers", to defend himself and fight against those resisting him, including the player-character Jack within the first game. Atlas Atlas serves as Jack's guide for the first two thirds of the game, and the game's final boss. Prior to his wife and child's entrapment in Neptune's Bounty, Atlas was attempting to flee the city. When Jack arrives in Rapture, he promises to help him escape under the condition he rescues his wife and child. However, it is soon revealed that he is actually Frank Fontaine and has been controlling Jack for his own will. Frank Fontaine Frank Fontaine is one of the primary antagonists in BioShock. He is a criminal mastermind, the arch-enemy of Andrew Ryan. He speaks with a coarse, thick Bronx accent. Unlike Ryan, he has no ideals regarding the city, and simply wishes to use it for money and power. Fontaine is very intelligent and has a skill for evasion. Later in the game Sander Cohen asks Jack to kill Fontaine. Big Daddies Big Daddies are heavily spliced (genetically mutated and altered) human beings who have had their skin and organs directly grafted into antiqued, heavily armored atmospheric diving suits. They are armed with a rivet gun, heavy drill, rocket launcher, or ion laser. They roam the underwater dystopian city of Rapture, mentally conditioned to protect the Little Sisters—little girls that harvest a substance called ADAM from corpses—thanks to a series of plasmids stripping them of their humanity and free will. Little Sisters Little Sisters (originally named as Gatherers) are young girls who have been genetically altered and mentally conditioned to reclaim ADAM from the corpses around Rapture. Little Sisters are always accompanied by a Big Daddy. The Little Sisters are almost completely immune to damage but have no offensive abilities. Approaching or attacking them, however, will incur the wrath of their Big Daddy protectors. When the player defeats these protectors, the player can choose either to harvest or rescue the Little Sisters, with consequences for the storyline. Little Sisters are usually hiding in the air vents hidden around Rapture, they will only come out when being called by a Big Daddy. Sander Cohen Sander Cohen lived among the most famous individuals in Rapture. As one of Rapture's more respected musicians, playwrights and poets, Cohen resided in a lavish apartment in Mercury Suites, along with other Rapture celebrities such as Frank Fontaine, Brigid Tenenbaum and Yi Suchong. Following Rapture's civil war and the chaotic months that followed it, Cohen slowly grew extremely paranoid. Cohen was given jurisdiction over an area of the city known as Fort Frolic by Andrew Ryan, the founder of Rapture. The splicers under his domination are often the subject of Cohen's newfound sadistic enjoyment in the death and suffering of others. Brigid Tenenbaum Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum is a genetic scientist who helped originally develop ADAM. She is also the "mother" of the Little Sisters; she created them, and cares a great deal about their safety, calling them her "little ones", and acting like a mother towards them in protecting them. When the Little Sisters were first created, she had no regard for them or their lives, seeing the removal of the slugs as no different than removing life support from a terminal patient. However, they awaken her Maternal Instinct, and she dedicates herself to saving them. The player is able to win her allegiance by saving the Little Sisters instead of harvesting them for ADAM. She serves as Jack's guide throughout the final third of the game. Splicers Splicers serve as the mainstay "infantry" within the first two BioShock games. These are humans who through the excessive use of ADAM have mutated into humanoids permanently endowed with various superpowers, but who are also murderously and irreversibly insane. Unlike the protagonists of the first two BioShock games, who can mix and match the powers given to them by the use of plasmids with near-limitless variety, Splicers fall into a set of different categories that give each splicer type a consistent but limited set of abilities and powers (Spider Splicers, Brute Splicers, Houdini Splicers, et al). ''BioShock 2'' Subject Delta Subject Delta is the player-character of BioShock 2. Originally known as "Johnny Topside", he discovered Rapture. After being sent to prison, Delta became the first successful Big Daddy subject bonded to a Little Sister, Eleanor Lamb. This bond was capable of killing or inducing coma if it were to be broken, which is what happened on New Year's Eve 1958 when Dr. Sofia Lamb forced Delta to commit suicide with the use of a pistol, reclaiming her daughter. Ten years later, 1968, Delta is revived by the now adolescent Eleanor Lamb with the use of a vita-chamber reprogrammed to his DNA. Delta is required to find Eleanor, thus repairing the bond between the two. Augustus Sinclair Augustus Sinclair is Subject Delta's guide through Rapture. He was the creator of Persephone, the headquarters of Sinclair Solutions and also Rapture's prison. During Rapture's height he was a successful businessman with links to Andrew Ryan. He is later seen as the last of the Alpha series, Subject Omega. Eleanor Lamb The daughter of Sofia Lamb, and a previous Little Sister. Roughly ten years after the 1958 New Year's Eve Riots she contacts Subject Delta, beginning the events of BioShock 2. Eleanor still remembers Delta after ten years and knows he is searching for her. Throughout the course of the game, she will leave him gifts and messages written on the walls of the city. In the story of BioShock 2, her behavior is influenced by Delta's actions towards the Little Sisters and NPCs. Dr. Sofia Lamb Dr. Sofia Lamb is the primary antagonist of BioShock 2. She has taken over Andrew Ryan's position as the leader of Rapture, albeit with a completely different ideological view revolving around collectivism. She uses her skills as a psychiatrist to brainwash most of the Splicers in the city, forming a cult known as "The Family". She sends out members of The Family to prevent Subject Delta from reuniting with Eleanor. In 2013, Liz Lanier of Game Informer included Lamb among top ten female villains in video games, stating that "an extremist obsessed with the "greater good," Lamb will sacrifice anything and anyone for her own agenda; whether that means brainwashing or murdering to create her utopia, she's down." Big Sisters The Big Sisters are post-pubescent Little Sisters that have become unstable in Rapture's environment. Eight years after the events of BioShock, they are charged with maintaining the ecological balance in Rapture. Their extreme level of powers, far beyond normal plasmid users, can be attributed to their bodies adapting the ADAM created in their bodies as children while they were still developing. Thus they have a much more natural affinity for the powers that ADAM creates. Subject Sigma The Thinker Reed Wahl ''BioShock Infinite'' Booker DeWitt Booker DeWitt (Troy Baker), the player protagonist, is a disgraced former agent of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. As a soldier in the 7th Cavalry Regiment, he had performed brutal acts against native American Indians at the Battle of Wounded Knee to defend his own honor; these acts left him emotionally scarred, leading to excessive drinking and gambling. He was given an opportunity to be baptised and start anew, but ultimately declined. He was subsequently dismissed for behavior beyond the acceptable bounds of the Agency,1 but considers his actions with the Pinkertons in quelling labour strikes to be among his many sins. He continues to work as a private investigator from New York City, referring to himself as an "independent contractor". Outwardly, he cares little for the extraordinary, provided that it does not interfere with his ability to do his job; internally, he is disturbed by both his role in the events at Wounded Knee and recurring visions of New York City under attack from the air. Booker is skeptical of faith, unwilling to accept the idea that he can be absolved of his sins by embracing religion, as he considers his sins to be so extreme as to demand a penance rather than forgiveness. 2 Elizabeth Elizabeth (Courtnee Draper) is a young woman who has been held captive in Columbia for most of her life.34 She is shown to be intelligent, having spent most of her life studying a wide variety of subjects from geography to medicine and physics, whilst acquiring more practical skills in the form of cryptography and lock-picking. She also has the ability to perceive and interact with the dimensional tears across Columbia. She wears a thimble in place of the tip of her little finger, which had been cut off, though she does not remember how this happened. Songbird Elizabeth's confinement within Columbia has been maintained by Songbird, a large, robotic bird-like creature who had been both her friend and her warden. Songbird was designed by its creator to feel betrayal should Elizabeth escape, and Elizabeth notes she "would rather be killed than be recaptured by Songbird." Similar like Big Daddy, Songbird's eyes can also turn into 3 different colors: green, yellow and red. Zachary Hale Comstock Father Zachary Hale Comstock (Kiff VandenHeuvel) serves as the main antagonist of the story. He is revealed to be an alternate version of Booker DeWitt; whereas Booker refused the baptism after the Battle of Wounded Knee, this version accepted it, found faith in religion, and renamed himself as Comstock. Claiming to have received a vision of the future from an archangel,8 Comstock became a religious fanatic who founded Columbia with the help of the Luteces, and is revered there as "The Prophet". Comstock created a religion that Ken Levine described as being a hybrid of Christianity and the worship of the Founding Fathers as religious figures.9 At the same time, he eschews figures like Abraham Lincoln, considering him to be a "devil" that led America astray; in one area of the game, the player encounters a cult-like group that reveres John Wilkes Booth as a hero.10 To maintain his leadership, Comstock has created a cult of personality within Columbia, which also protects his secrets by weaving them into the mythology he has created. Under his leadership, Columbia has become a breeding ground for racist and sexist attitudes, with minority groups subject to seizure of assets, false imprisonment and penal labor, torture and summary execution without charge. Although Comstock's knowledge of these crimes is never established, he himself is revealed to be responsible for at least three murders and leading a violent purge of over forty dissidents.11 Comstock claims that Elizabeth is his daughter, born miraculously to his late wife, Lady Comstock, after only seven days in the womb, and that she is "The Lamb" that will lead Columbia in the future. It is later revealed that he had become sterile from the technology used by the Lutece twins, and employed them to take Anna DeWitt, Booker's child, from another reality to become Elizabeth and his genetic heir to Columbia. He subsequently killed his wife and attempted to kill the Lutece twins to hide this conspiracy. Daisy Fitzroy Daisy Fitzroy (Kimberly Brooks) is the leader of the Vox Populi. A woman of African-American descent, she originally journeyed to Columbia to find a new life, and took a position as housekeeper in Comstock's mansion.12 When Comstock murdered his wife to keep Elizabeth's parentage secret, he turned Fitzroy into a scapegoat for the crime and invented the Vox Populi as common enemy of the people in order to further turn Columbia into a police state.13 This inspired Fitzroy to develop a bitter hatred of the Founders and what they stand for, and assumed control of the Vox Populi to lead the underclass in uprising against Comstock and the Founders. Despite fighting against the injustices perpetrated by the Founders, Daisy and the Vox Populi are presented as being no better than the Founders, given the lengths they are willing to go to in order to overthrow Comstock, their murder of civilians during the uprising, and the use of child soldiers for psychological warfare.14 The Lutece Twins Robert (Oliver Vaquer) and Rosalind Lutece (Jennifer Hale) are two mysterious individuals that direct Booker to Columbia and appear throughout his travels. They appear to be near-identical fraternal twins, but it is later revealed that they are the same person from two different realities, only differing by sex. Rosalind is shown to be the one to have developed the technology that keeps Columbia afloat under Comstock's orders, and through that, made contact with Robert. Together they worked out how to communicate with and subsequently cross between dimensions to the extent where they can now do so at will.15 Over the course of the story, it is revealed that Comstock attempted to murder the Lutece twins by sabotaging one of their devices to protect his secrets, but instead they ended up in a state of flux, existing along the entire "possibility space".16 They now act as agents of reality, attempting to correct imbalances without directly manipulating events. Lady Comstock Lady Comstock (Laura Bailey) is the wife of Zachary Hale Comstock and the adoptive mother of Elizabeth. Shortly after meeting Comstock, she became one of his most dedicated followers, but soon became disillusioned when Comstock resorted to increasingly violent tactics to impose his will on the city of Columbia.11 She grew to resent Elizabeth, and as she grew evermore unstable, she was unable to keep the secret of Elizabeth's parentage and threatened to undermine Comstock's rule over Columbia. Comstock murdered her and blamed Daisy Fitzroy and the Vox Populi for her death, using the act to further establish control over the city. Lady Comstock now exists in a spectral form, fuelled by her own rage and hatred. She attempts to kill Elizabeth several times until Elizabeth convinces her that they are both Comstock's victims. Jeremiah Fink Jeremiah Fink (Bill Lobley) is an unscrupulous businessman who has a monopoly over manufacturing in Columbia, aided by usurping technology that he has observed through the tears, including that of Songbird.17 Fink is a key supporter of Comstock as it enables him to exploit cheap labor of the underclass,18 though he does not share Comstock's religious fervor.19 He has achieved a celebrity status within Columbia, and produces most of the propaganda throughout the city. He also guided Albert, his brother and a composer, to take music heard through the tears and claim it as his own for profit.20 Cornelius Slate Cornelius Slate (Keith Szarabajka) is a former soldier that fought alongside Booker at the Battle of Wounded Knee before becoming a follower of Comstock and going on to destroy Peking during the Boxer Rebellion. Slate becomes disillusioned with Comstock's rule when he discovers that Comstock has claimed both Slate's and Booker's achievements in battle as his own, and rebels against the city. References Jump up ^ Rosenberg, Adam (2012-12-10). "Irrational Games will offer fans an alternative to BioShock Infinite's cover art". Digital Trends. Retrieved 2012-12-18. Jump up ^ Johnson, Bryan (2013-10-29). "Some Facts About Bioshock Infinite Booker Dewitt that You Probably Never Know". Retrieved 2013-10-29. Jump up ^ Boxer, Steve (2010-08-20). "Bioshock Infinite: hands-on at Gamescom". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-08-20. Jump up ^ Morriset, Chris (2010-08-12). "Irrational Games takes Bioshock to the clouds". Variety. Retrieved 2010-08-12. ^ Jump up to: a b Goldstein, Hilary (2011-05-23). "E3 2011: BioShock Infinite – Beware the Songbird". IGN. Retrieved 2011-05-24. Jump up ^ Juba, Joe (September 2010). "Bioshock Infinite: Out of the Sea, Into the Clouds". Game Informer (Sunrise Publications) (210): 48–59. Jump up ^ Johnson, Bryan (2013-10-29). "Few Things About Bioshock Infinite Songbird that You Should Know". Retrieved 2013-10-29. Jump up ^ Irrational Games. BioShock Infinite. (2K Games). Level/area: Welcome Center. (2013-03-26) Zachary Hale Comstock (via Voxophone) - "And then, the archangel showed a vision: a city, lighter than air. I asked her, 'Why do you show this to me, archangel? I'm not a strong man. I'm not a righteous man. I am not a holy man.' And she told me the most remarkable thing: 'You're right, Prophet. But if grace is within the grasp of one such as you, how can anyone else not see it in themselves?'" Jump up ^ Sydell, Laura (2013-04-01). "'Bioshock Infinite': A First-Person Shooter, A Tragic Play". NPR. Retrieved 2013-04-01. Jump up ^ Donlan, Christian (2013-04-05). "BioShock Infinite: America's Fairground". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2013-04-08. ^ Jump up to: a b Irrational Games. BioShock Infinite. (2K Games). Level/area: Downtown Emporia. (2013-03-26) Lady Comstock (via Voxophone) - "Tonight, the Prophet moved against his political enemies. He preaches mercy, but forty souls lie tonight dead, in unmarked graves. If a man was ever unworthy of grace, it would be my husband. But when I was beyond redemption, he offered it anyway. How can I deny forgiveness to one who, with love, granted it to me?" Jump up ^ Irrational Games. BioShock Infinite. (2K Games). Level/area: Soldier's Field. (2013-03-26) Daisy Fitzroy (via Voxophone) - "Days at Comstock House was simple. Hard work, sure, but simple. Wringin' the linens, scrubbing the floors... Lady Comstuck, she even had a kind word, now and then. Almost enough to make me think I had a place in their world. God made foolish girls so HE could have something to play with." Jump up ^ Irrational Games. BioShock Infinite. (2K Games). Level/area: Bull House Impound. (2013-03-26) Daisy Fitzroy (via Voxophone) - "They argued somethin' fierce at night-- Lady Comstock and the Prophet. Could never make out what it was about from my bunk, though. After the worst, I see she ain't left for morning prayer...so I crept upstairs to check in on her. And like a fool...I lingered. "Scullery maid" was what they called me when I walked into Comstock House. "Murderer" was what they shouted when I ran out." Jump up ^ Irrational Games. BioShock Infinite. (2K Games). Level/area: Shantytown. (2013-03-26) Preston E. Downs (via Voxophone) - "Well, Fitzroy-- you...you got a low cunning in ya, if nothing else. Dropped a couple grizzly traps 'round the lines up here. Idea was to...to bleed one of your couriers till he gave you up. 'Cept, of course, you're using kids now. Now I got this...tiny Injun boy, eyeballing me. Had to take his leg off. Damn thing's just lying here between us. I sure wish he'd cry or something." Jump up ^ Tassi, Paul (2013-03-27). "An Attempt to Understand BioShock Infinite's Brilliant and Bizarre Ending". Forbes. Retrieved 2013-03-27. Jump up ^ Irrational Games. BioShock Infinite. (2K Games). Level/area: Downtown Emporia. (2013-03-26) Rosalind Lutece (via Voxophone) - "Comstock has sabotaged our contraption. Yet, we are not dead. A theory: we are scattered amongst the possibility space. But my brother and I are together, and so, I am content. He is not. The business with the girl lies unresolved. But perhaps there is one who can finish it in our stead." Jump up ^ Amini, Tina (2013-04-01). "Seeing Through The Eyes Of A BioShock Infinite Villain". Kotaku. Retrieved 2013-04-01. Jump up ^ Irrational Games. BioShock Infinite. (2K Games). Level/area: Welcome Center. (2013-03-26) Jeremiah Fink (via Voxophone) - "I told you, Comstock, you sell 'em paradise, and the costumers expect cherubs for every chore! No menials in God's kingdom! Well, I've a man in Georgia who'll lease us as many Negro convicts as you can board! Why, you can say they're simple souls, in penance for rising above their station. Whatever eases your conscience, I suppose." Jump up ^ Irrational Games. BioShock Infinite. (2K Games). Level/area: Worker Induction Center. (2013-03-26) Jump up ^ Kelly, Andy (2013-04-05). "Unlocking the secrets and mysteries behind BioShock Infinite". Computer and Video Games. Retrieved 2013-04-05. Jump up ^ Bramwell, Tom (2013-03-27). "The Hall of Heroes: BioShock Infinite's Fort Frolic?". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2013-03-27. External links * BioShock Wikia Category:BioShock characters BioShock